


If I Die Young

by Murf1307



Series: French Vanilla and Haunted Houses [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Rainbows, Songfic, Wakes & Funerals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-05
Updated: 2012-10-05
Packaged: 2017-11-15 16:43:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/529392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Murf1307/pseuds/Murf1307
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ed goes to the funeral.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If I Die Young

**Author's Note:**

> This is for Prompt #18, Rainbow. I apologize for following up fluff with serious angst, but I had to.

Ed goes to the funeral.

He hates himself more every second that passes by.  He feels out of place, learns too much he hadn't known before it was too late, and just sits in the back of the church, the Facers in the pew across the aisle.

He learns that Corbett's mom is a florist and his dad's a banker, that his favorite superhero was Batman, that he played tee-ball in elementary school and lacrosse in middle and high school, that he had majored in film in college, that he'd worked as a barista all through college.  That he'd been awkward and scared when he came out to his parents, but that it had been just fine.

He'd already known that Corbett was sweet and kind and diligent and yeah, too clever by half (but hadn't they all been, all just been so clever with their chasing ghost stories with just a camera and an EMF reader).

After they leave the church, Mrs. Corbett takes him aside by the elbow, and God, Corbett had had his mother's eyes.

"Thank you so much for coming," she says, smiling wanly.  "I know it must be hard for you -- you were there that night.  But thank you.  He would have been glad to know his friends came to pay their final respects."

Ed nods and breaks down crying right there in the doorway of the church.

She keeps smiling, but she's crying, too, and hugging him.  "The lot of you, you made him so happy.  He was always telling us about how wonderful it was, how determined you all were to make this show."

"I --" Ed can't breathe, can't speak.  It's all too much.

They lean on each other coming down the church steps, Corbett's father with a hand on Ed's shoulder while his arm is wrapped around his wife.  Ed's dazed, the tears streaming down his face, and vaguely he can see Maggie and Harry curled up against each other on a bench by the sidewalk, Spruce climbing into the driver's seat of the van.

Later, in the cemetery, it starts to rain, but the sun is still behind them.

Mrs. Corbett looks up at it and smiles.  "He's safe, then."

"Huh?" Ed asks her.

"He had always liked that song -- the one -- _If I die young, bury me in satin..._ " she mumbles.  "He always said he loved it, even if it was morbid."

"Oh," Ed says.  He knows that song.

" _There's a boy here in town, says he'll_  
 _love me forever._  
 _Who woulda thought forever could be severed by_  
 _the sharp knife_  
 _of a short life._ "

He half sings, half whispers the words, looking up at the rainbow.

Then he can't look at it anymore, because he thinks it might be true.  He looks down on his shoes and the damp grass instead, bowled over by the weight of it.

He doesn't say anything, though, because the words feel hollow and stick in his throat.

He doesn't say anything, because the words don't mean anything.  Not after he'd had to say them that night, scared and alone and not knowing how true they were.

He doesn't say anything, because it's not enough.


End file.
